Material modeling and simulation software developer MultiMechanics has teamed up with additive manufacturing (AM) company Fortify in a strategic partnership meant to improve the predictability of composite 3D printing.

As AM is starting to be used for high-quality production parts—and not just prototypes—there is an increasing need for manufacturers to predict exactly how a printed part will perform. This is a problem facing industry giants like Boeing, which has acknowledged the many difficulties of producing reliable 3D-printed parts, and is actively researching solutions.

The MultiMechanics and Fortify partnership will see the latter use MultiMech, MultiMechanics’ flagship finite element modeling (FEM) material testing platform. Fortify’s Fluxprint technology—a combination of magnetics and digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing—is specifically designed to create high-preforming composite parts. Fortify will use MultiMech to predict the structural integrity of its3D-printed parts and optimize the fiber orientation throughout the part structure.Eventually, Fortify plans to integrate the MultiMech API into its3D printers.

"We see a definite need for better predictability of 3D printing, and we believe that our application poses a unique case for the MultiMech software," said Fortify CEO Josh Martin. "The resulting printed parts take full advantage of the strength-to-weight benefits of composite materials to a degree of resolution and complexity not possible before.We have a few exciting projects in the pipeline that will benefit from the use of MultiMech, including end-use components for industrial UAVs and injection molding tools. We are excited to partner with MultiMechanics to push the 3D printing industry forward."

For its part, MultiMechanics is also eager to see the results of the collaboration.

"We are excited to partner with Fortify because both companies offer users the ability to control microstructural design at every single point of a product,” said MultiMechanics CEO Leandro Castro. “Fortify allows that in the real world, while MultiMechanics enables that virtually. This strong synergy removes design constraints to create truly optimized parts."